The rise, fall and rise again of Paige
On April 9, 2018, Saraya-Jade Bevis, better known as Paige announced her retirement from in-ring competition live on the post-Wrestlemania episode of Raw.
Holding back tears, Paige explained that a serious neck injury meant it was no longer safe for her to compete but added Daniel Bryan's return to action the previous night at Wrestlemania after three years on the shelf, gave her hope that one day she might return.
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At only 25 years of age, retirement was a hammer blow, particularly as Paige had only returned after more than a year on the shelf the previous November.
It was only four years earlier, ironically on the Raw after Wrestlemania, that her main roster WWE career began. Paige, then the NXT Women's Champion confronted Diva's Champion AJ Lee, which led to an impromptu match between the pair for Lee's Championship in which Paige in a major shock lifted the title. Paige had arrived.
Her reign lasted nearly three months before she dropped it back to Lee in another impromptu match on Raw.
Shortly afterwards, Paige reclaimed the title on her 22nd birthday at the 2014 edition of Summerslam in a hugely entertaining encounter with Lee, though her reign would only last a month.
Paige spent most of 2015 pushing for a women's revolution on WWE television which led to the debut's of Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks. Paige would team with Flair and Lynch to form the team PCB which feuded with the likes of the Bella Twins and team B.A.D.
In a slow-burn storyline, seeds of dissension were sown within PCB, when Flair won the Diva's Championship, which led to a jealous Paige, turning heel on her partners. Paige then challenged Flair for the belt in a feud which failed to engage the audience leading Paige to seek cheap heat by verbally assaulting Flair's father Ric and her deceased brother Reid, who Paige tastelessly said had "tapped out on life." Flair's tears in response to Paige's tirades were entirely genuine.
Paige failed to wrest the title from Flair and faded into the background. She then disappeared from television due to injury.
In a move that raised eyebrows, Paige was drafted to the Raw brand during the 2016 draft lottery while her boyfriend, Alberto Del Rio remained on Smackdown. This was viewed as a petty move on WWE's part as the company generally kept couples on the same show so they can travel to and from arena's together and spend much more time in each other's company as opposed to when they work on opposite shows and barely see each other at all. It soon leaked out, however, that WWE and indeed Paige's family did not approve of the much older, Del Rio as her partner, viewing him as a bad influence.
WWE's stance proved understandable when Paige was soon suspended for failing WWE's Wellness (drug) policy. A month later she was hit with a second suspension. Paige claimed on Twitter she was suspended for testing positive for a prescription drug. However, WWE released a statement advising that Paige had tested positive for an illegal substance. Paige later admitted that her second suspension was due to illegal drug use. Many in wrestling believed Del Rio was responsible for her downward spiral.
Paige underwent successful neck surgery, the following month. The next 12 months of Paige's life were dominated by negative headlines, mainly about her relationship with Del Rio.
Most notably there was a very public incident in July 2017 wherein Paige was arrested on charges of battery toward Del Rio. She admitted to throwing her drink on him but said there was no more to the event than that. However, recordings obtained by TMZ of the incident suggests that Del Rio, her boyfriend, no less had agitated to get Paige arrested, following a blistering row. The news generated many public comments on the nature of their relationship, most worryingly from Paige's brother, Zak Bevis, who posted on Facebook that Del Rio "thinks he's a tough guy cause (sic) he beats my sister and has money to cover his tracks."
Then in an event, that Paige admitted later caused her to contemplate suicide, her phone along with many other famous female stars was hacked and nude pictures of her surfaced online.
Most in wrestling feared the worst for Paige and openly worried about her health and safety, however in November 2017, she finally returned to WWE television, looking far more confident and healthier than she had in many months.
It soon leaked out that Paige and Del Rio were no longer together and Paige was focussing on her wrestling career, supported by WWE.
For their part, WWE looked to have buried the hatchet with Paige and showed her no malice whatsoever for the tumultuous year she had put herself and the company through. WWE booked Paige as the leader of the stable, Absolution with newcomers, Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose and was portrayed as a major force in the women's division. It seemed there were some very serious plans for her to be a large part in storylines going forward. However, just weeks after her return, in a cruel twist of fate, disaster struck. On December 27, in a house show in New York, Paige received a kick to the back by Banks, during a tag team match. Tests by doctors confirmed underlying neck issues so severe that her career was over. Paige's comeback had lasted a month.
Despite the injury and news of it being leaked to the media, WWE or Paige did not confirm it's severity or that it would force Paige to retire until her announcement on April 8.
WWE, in a classy move, decided to turn a negative into a positive for Paige, and the very next night, they informed her that she would be the new General Manager of Smackdown, replacing Bryan, who had returned to active competition two nights earlier at Wrestlemania.
Paige immediately ingratiated herself to the audience by booking the dream match of Bryan versus WWE Champion, AJ Styles in the main event. Paige has continued to be an entertaining fixture on Smackdown and looks like she is having fun in the role.
In further good news for Paige, she is the subject of a film about her life entitled "Fighting with my Family", which is scheduled for release in 2019, starring The Rock as himself and Vince Vaughan as Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Written by co-writer of the original UK version of "The Office", Stephen Merchant, the biopic will focus on Paige's wrestling family and her and her brother, Zak's experiences when they auditioned with WWE.
After a terrible 2016-17, Paige's life and career are once again on the up. One hopes this will continue and the issues of the past are laid to rest, for good.